Are you worried about your Haemoglobin Count - Low?
If your body starts to produce fewer red blood cells, or destroys them faster than it can produce them, this can lead to medical issues like anaemia, kidney disease, tumours, and more.
Blood loss, either through ulcers, haemorrhoids, or even frequent blood donation, can also leave us with a low red blood cell count. If your haemoglobin count is too low you may not qualify to donate your blood, this is often how people find out they have this problem, but for most people you simply must wait a short period of time before returning and trying again.
If you have severely low red blood cells, it is likely that you will develop anaemia. There are many different types of anaemia, and some are particularly damaging to your health, so it is important to know what to look out for.
Symptoms of anaemia include:
- Feeling dizzy or lightheaded
- Frequent headaches
- Shortness of breath
- Fatigue
- Body aches
- Fast heartbeat
For high red blood cell count see Erythrocytosis.
Haemoglobin plays a vital role in transporting oxygen around the body and helps to remove carbon dioxide. Therefore, it is vital that you ensure that the amount of carbon dioxide in the body is at the correct level to function correctly.
There are certain things you can do in your everyday life to try to increase the haemoglobin level, such as changes in your diet or taking supplements.
To increase your haemoglobin levels, you can try the following:
Iron-rich foods - Iron promotes the production of haemoglobin, try eating more iron-rich foods like meat, fish, eggs, spinach, kale, nuts, and soy products.
Iron supplements – You can also take iron supplements to aid in the promotion of haemoglobin. Consult a medical professional if you are unsure about what dosage to take.
It is likely that your low haemoglobin levels will be spotted by a medical professional after a blood test, usually while investigating other unexplained symptoms. In this case the medical professional will advise you on the next steps to take. If your haemoglobin levels are low, but not by a great amount, it is likely nothing will be done, provided you feel well and have no other symptoms. However, if your haemoglobin levels are severely low, or are accompanied by symptoms that are associated with certain illnesses like anaemia, it is likely you will be sent for further medical diagnosis by a specialist.
Here at VIDA we have expert clinicians on hand to help diagnose and treat your condition. To find out more about these services, we recommend visiting the following pages:
- Aplastic anemia
- Bleeding in your digestive tract
- Cancer
- Certain medications ( antiretroviral drugs for HIV infection and chemotherapy drugs for cancer and other conditions)
- Chronic kidney disease
- Cirrhosis
- Enlarged spleen (splenomegaly)
- Frequent blood donation
- Hemolysis
- Hodgkin's lymphoma (Hodgkin's disease)
- Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid)
- Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
- Iron deficiency anemia
- Lead poisoning
- Leukemia
- Multiple myeloma
- Myelodysplastic syndromes
- Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
- Porphyria
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Sickle cell anemia
- Thalassemia
- Vitamin deficiency anemia